"The older I get, the more I feel almost beautiful"
About this Quote
Aging usually gets sold as a slow eviction from desirability; Sharon Olds flips the script with a line that’s both plainspoken and quietly insurgent. “The older I get” sets up the expected decline narrative, but the pivot lands on “the more I feel,” not “the more I look.” Olds locates beauty where culture least rewards it: in lived sensation, in self-perception that doesn’t need permission.
The genius is in “almost.” It’s a hedge that reads less like insecurity than honesty about how hard-won this feeling is. “Almost beautiful” suggests a self arriving in increments, with decades of shame, appraisal, and comparison still leaving residue. That near-miss is the subtext: even liberation has drag. Olds doesn’t pretend to be immune to the world’s metrics; she’s showing what it costs to rewire them.
Context matters because Olds has built a career on dragging private life into public language: sex, motherhood, trauma, the body as evidence. That makes “almost” feel earned, not coy. It’s the voice of a woman who has watched herself be looked at, measured, wanted, dismissed, and is now reclaiming the gaze from the inside out.
The line also sneaks in a redefining of “beautiful” as a state of being rather than an attribute. It’s not a makeover slogan; it’s a late-blooming truce with the self. Beauty becomes less an audition and more a feeling you can finally afford.
The genius is in “almost.” It’s a hedge that reads less like insecurity than honesty about how hard-won this feeling is. “Almost beautiful” suggests a self arriving in increments, with decades of shame, appraisal, and comparison still leaving residue. That near-miss is the subtext: even liberation has drag. Olds doesn’t pretend to be immune to the world’s metrics; she’s showing what it costs to rewire them.
Context matters because Olds has built a career on dragging private life into public language: sex, motherhood, trauma, the body as evidence. That makes “almost” feel earned, not coy. It’s the voice of a woman who has watched herself be looked at, measured, wanted, dismissed, and is now reclaiming the gaze from the inside out.
The line also sneaks in a redefining of “beautiful” as a state of being rather than an attribute. It’s not a makeover slogan; it’s a late-blooming truce with the self. Beauty becomes less an audition and more a feeling you can finally afford.
Quote Details
| Topic | Aging |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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